Hello all.  Yesterday I took what may be the first step on the slippery slope of changing my forging focus to blades (something I thought I'd NEVER do when I first started out).  After taking a couple of weeks out of the forge dealing with vehicle issues and avoiding the 90+ degree heat, I fired up the forge yesterday and decided to try my hand at damascus.  I had a few old 6 TPI long sawzall blades that are approx 1/16" thick.  I ground the teeth off and sandwiched 3 pieces of 1/8" mild steel between 4 sawzall blades.  Folded 4 times for approx 100 layers, used a sharp hot cut to make a ladder pattern and after 4-5 hours of forgework made myself a little mushrooming blade. Did a 30 minute etch in muriatic and am pretty tickled with the pattern (I'll try pics when finished), so I now want to actually treat this blade well, so I need to know how to HEAT treat it.  I couldn't find out what type of steel these are, so any suggestions on a heat treat?  I was thinking quenching in oil (I've got a 5 gal bucket of veggie oil I've been using for my other tool making) but should I heat the oil?  And, what temperature should I plan on using for tempering?  Or should I do something else?

Did you read about heat treating in the knife section on IForgeIron?

It may not have your exact answer but may give you the suggestions you need to start.

Being that sawzall blades are bimetal and are at best .7% carbon, along with the mild steel (.18%C  +,-) and given the forge time you'll probably need to do a brine quench.  Decarb will really take it's toll on that blade. 

Not all sawzall blades are bimetal, some are HSS, or High Carbon. An easy test is to bend one,if it snaps it is not bimetal.

Not all sawzall blades are bimetal, some are HSS, or High Carbon. An easy test is to bend one,if it snaps it is not bimetal.

That's odd, lol <_< . Your right, not all are bimetal. If they were HSS or some other alloy like it they would have had cobalt (at least the ones I sell do) which would keep them from forge welding or at best make it very difficult. Regardless of carbon content, decarb will be an issue. Be sure to do a file test after the quench, an hour @ 350 should give it the stress relief without loosing hardness. As always, test it. B)

So now, by my calculations, you ought to have something close to 1050 steel.  Good enough to make a decent cutting edge but not hold exceptionally durable edges.  I reckon you are having FUN though and learning too!  Keep on going!

Here's what the blade looks like so far.  This isn't etched, but this is after the quench in 130 degree oil, followed immediately by ~ 1 1/2 hours at 350+/- deg. There was a nice oil patina that started to flake off, so I used my fingernail to scrape off as much burned oil as possible.  Tomorrow I start filing/grinding the tang and then the handle.  Light or dark wood for the handle?

Cool looking! Are you going to use any hardware...bolster ect...? That might help decide what wood. I think a spalted dark / red wood, but thats what I'm thinking without a good acid etch, but already a great pattern showing!

Hello all. Finished the shroom knife and what a fun learning experience. Quick question: Does ebony ever get compeletely smooth like glass or will you always see some tiny grain lines? I went to 1200 grit.



I made at least a few rookie mistakes: Etched too long and lost color, but got some neat topography. Knicked the tip of the blade when roughing out the handle, that one hurt!

I do all filing and grinding after normalizing and before hardening. Most Files skate right off of a well hardened blade. I like the look of the final product.

Classic response is that if you don't know the alloy particulars always save a piece to test with.

Some ebony will come out like polished plastic, others will not.

I really want to try this now. We've got more spent sawzall blades laying around than Quaker's got oats!